Updates, advisories and surprises

(4:34 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- EBay Inc.
EBAY, +0.77%
on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $850 million, or 65 cents a share, on revenue of $4.5 billion, compared with earnings of $751 million, or 57 cents a share, on $3.99 billion in sales in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, eBay would have earned 81 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast eBay to earn 80 cents a share on $4.55 billion in sales. Additionally, eBay said it authorized an additional $5 billion stock repurchase program. EBay also said that it received a proposal from activist investor Carl Icahn seeking to spin off PayPal as a separate company, and that Icahn is nominating two of his employees for positions on eBay's board of directors. EBay shares rose 8% in after-hours trading following the slate of announcements.

Netflix tops earnings, sales outlooks

(4:20 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Netflix Inc.
NFLX, -0.62%
on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $48 million, or 79 cents a share, on revenue of $1.18 billion. During the same period a year ago, Netflix earned $8 million, or 13 cents a share, on $945 million in sales. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Netflix to earn 65 cents a share on $1.17 billion in revenue. The company said it added 2.3 million new U.S. video streaming subscribers during the quarter, to give it 33.4 million such members. In after-hours trading, Netflix shares climbed as much as 15%.

SanDisk profit rises, results beat Street

(4:12 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - SanDisk Corp.
SNDK
on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $337.78 million, or $1.45 a share, compared with a profit of $213.54 million, or 87 cents a share. Revenue rose to $1.73 billion from $1.54 billion. Adjusted profit was $1.71 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet on average were expecting the chip company to post a profit of $1.58 a share, on revenue of $1.7 billion. Shares of SanDisk were up 2.5% after-hours.

IBM, AMD decline over outlook concerns

(10:01 AM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- IBM Corp.
IBM, +0.11%
and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
AMD, -3.04%
were in the tech spotlight Wednesday, with investors sending both companies' shares into the red following negative earnings results and forecasts. IBM gave up 3.3%, to trade at $182.21 after its fourth-quarter sales missed analysts' estimates and the tech giant suggested its first-quarter earnings might miss Wall Street's expectations. AMD was off by 11% at $3.72 a share after the semiconductor company gave a weaker than expected first-quarter outlook. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP, -0.23%
rose 6 points to 4,231.

Freeport-McMoran falls as profit misses estimates

(8:13 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.
FCX, -2.04%
reported its fourth-quarter profit fell to $707 million, or 68 cents a share, from $743 million, or 78 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $5.89 billion from $4.51 billion a year earlier, the mining company said Wednesday. Analysts had expected a profit of 80 cents a share on revenue of $6.37 billion, according to FactSet. Shares in Freeport-McMoRan were down 2% in premarket action.

Coach shares sink 6.8% premarket after earnings

(7:31 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Coach Inc.
COH, +0.68%
slid premarket Wednesday after the luxury retailer said its second-quarter sales fell 6% to $1.42 billion from $1.50 billion. "We continued to be disappointed by our performance in North America, which was impacted by substantially lower traffic in our stores," said CEO Victor Luis. The firm reported net income of $297.44 million, or $1.06 per share, compared with $352.76 million, or $1.23 per share a year earlier. One bright spot was its results in China, where total sales grew 25%.

Europe stocks higher, led by ASML, Sage

(3:15 AM ET) MADRID (MarketWatch) -- European stocks pushed higher at the open on Wednesday, led by ASML Holding NV(NL:ASML)
ASML, -1.37%
which jumped on earnings, while mining stocks were also stronger. Gains for Wall Street and gains for Asia also boosted sentiment. The Stoxx Europe 600 index(XX:SXXP)rose 0.3% to 336.91, while the German DAX 30 index(DX:DAX)rose 0.2% to 9,754.40, the French CAC 40 index(FR:PX1)rose 0.4% to 4,342.84 and the FTSE 100 index(UK:UKX)gained 0.4% to 6,861. Shares of ASML rose 3.6% after it reiterated its outlook for the first half and posted a 62% rise in profit. Shares of The Sage Group PLC(UK:SGE)rose 1.5% after the business software maker said it's on track to meet its 2015 revenue target.

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